Hundreds of educational technology bloggers and conference speakers hold forth on the need for transformational change in our educational system, and the conversation can get pretty lofty and philosophical.

I am a strong advocate for transformational reform; but it seems to me there are two very serious roadblocks in our way that we have yet to address.

The first roadblock is our school structure:

How does a Middle School or High School teacher use technology to create a student-centered, project-based learning classroom environment, when they have less than 45 minutes with their students per day?

BTW, they  must use these precious minutes to meet demanding state NCLB standards, and their curriculum may be governed by detailed ‘maps’ that outline the pace and sequence of teaching and learning in their classrooms.

Maybe the teacher does their best to squeeze in a project or two for the students during the year; but that doesn’t significantly change the primary classroom dynamic that is presently dominating secondary education.

The second roadblock is our technology deployment practices:

How does a Middle School or High School teacher use technology to move to student-centered, project-based learning, when they generally have only one or two computers, and maybe an interactive whiteboard and projector in their classrooms?

Maybe the teacher has a student use the interactive whiteboard while the rest of the class sits and watches, maybe the class watches a good video clip, or simulation; but the one computer classroom is a passive one and does not fully utilize the potential of technology to empower each individual student.

Unless we fully address these two basic questions, our best PD and transformational change efforts will make little impact on what is really going on in our schools.

pete

Over the past few years I have implemented project-based assessments in every level of Spanish that I teach. I think that I have come up with some great ideas, but after reading Apple’s Challenge Based Learning white paper and working through three days of IB MYP training I need to work on being more systematic in presenting the project. To use a colleague’s words, I need to unpack the assignment before I hand it to my students. When I have laid out the steps for my students, they have been more confident in their approach and successful in producing their final product.

Over the past week I have been revising old project-based assessments that my colleagues and I will assign this year. I prefer these types assessments to traditional exams for a number of reasons. One, they are authentic by design. Students may one day have a job where they have to create a multi-media presentation on a given topic. One project that I have planned for September involves students creating a presentation about a Spanish-speaking country. Their presentation can take any form that the students see fit. Their audience is potential study abroad candidates. Students will brainstorm, collaborate, create and share their ideas and projects.

Another benefit of project-based assessments is that students have the unique opportunity to take what they know and love, whether it’s music, technology, or art, meld it with what they are acquiring in Spanish class and then produce an authentic product. I love to see kids shine and project-based assessments afford them this chance.

Click to read my Don Quixote assignment and hear an amazing project from one of my students from last spring.

I have always been an advocate for project-based learning.  Over the years the best learning experiences that my students have ever been involved in have been ones in which they:

• had freedom to express themselves.
• had input into the outcome of the project or specific learning experience.
• had the opportunity to experiment and make mistakes without censure.
• had the chance to collaborate with other kids and adults to achieve a goal.
• had freedom to make choices within the framework of the particular learning activity they were involved in.
• were given permission to question the validity of the activity (and in essence where was I coming from…)

Perhaps the term “project-based” learning is in itself a little misleading and daunting.  To many teachers it conjures up horrendous scenarios of massive unit planning, chaotic group work and assessment nightmares.  To me the spirit of “project-based”  learning can be applied to everyday smaller tasks as well as the larger learning projects that we do with our classes.  Perhaps we should replace the term “project-based learning” with “empowered learning” – where the emphasis is on creating learning situations that empower the students themselves.

The whole concept of “empowering the learner” is not new and anyone game enough to try this approach has always had to use whatever resources were available at the time – including audio-cassettes, encyclopedias, reference books etc. The thing is the “constructivist” approach to learning was around before the advent of ICTs but was still not accepted as the norm as far as teaching methods were concerned.

Since about 1995 with the serious development of the Internet and all of the other aspects of ICTs the world has changed dramatically.  People (including kids) can access information and are able to communicate in ways never before thought possible. More than ever the “chalk and talk” (instructivist) approach in classrooms is a dinosaur – it just won’t cut it.  But then again it never did!

The role of ICTs in modern pedagogical practice is crucial!  However the technology of ICTs is useless (or at least  ineffective) if it’s being used in a “chalk and talk” classroom.  The basis of this blog then is to look at ways to empower the learner through both sound pedagogical practice AND the use of ICTs.

Lee Emerson

Some educators feel strongly that schools should use virtual worlds to engage today’s youth. I remember a distant time when teachers had the power to create imaginary worlds in the class. A Social Studies would tell about the Civil War from the viewpoint of a teenager as his middle school students enter in that teenager’s struggles.  An English teacher used A Midsummer’s Nights Dream to explore young love for high school students. They understand the world of crazy love, mistaken love, and true love. The play becomes a vehicle for them to explore an important issue in their lives.  A science teacher had the students adopt a local stream; they tell the stream’s story throughout the school year. They write as if they were the living stream.  Teachers have the power to create wonderful worlds in the classroom.  Students can be transported to other places, times, and events and see through the eyes of others. They learn more in-depth and more comprehensively.

Can you create imaginary worlds in your class so that students enter into a different world? Do you transport them to a different realm of seeing and thinking?  Get your Merlin’s wand out!

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.

Muslim Scientists is a project-based program where we introduce scholars & scientists such as al haitham, az-zahrawi, etc

Linking High pavement (and the affluent area atop the hill) with the impoverished Narrow marsh, was a narrow path called Malin Hill. It is here, where a Barber named George Caunt staged a stand off with the law which would claim two lives, including his own.
Caunt commited the heinous crime of stealing some curtains, realising his doom was imminent as police were looking for him, he took refuge in a friends house. (On Malin Hill) The Police knew immediately where he was,  but thought it best to just wait around for him to come out, rather than go in and get him. So in a 19th century stake out, a constable at each end of the lane and one in the middle, they sat and waited. 
He eventually emerged four days later, to end the stand off. Armed with a powerful handgun which could down a horse, he was challenged (briefly) by one constable who he shot dead. He was then free.
For a time anyway, a man hunt soon ensued. The guilt from the terrible heinous crime of stealing some curtain rails and the murder of the constable caught up with him and he took his life. Or so he hoped anyway, he took a phial of poison but just at the moment the police burst in snatching it from his grasp. 
Then on his way to court, they stopped off for some dinner at a local and inn and spying up some shiny sharp forks he had another shot at finishing himself off. However the bumbling fool missed his heart – hitting his breast plate.
It was a couple of days later that he managed to finially do himself in, when the poison he had managed to ingest  killed him.

And so this rather tragic tale, is really one of the only tales which I oculd photograph. Malin hill still stands there today. Although a problem I am finiding is how to represent something without making it look contrived and forced.

Last week, I missed an article on CNN.com  about working as an independent contractor. Thankfully, someone posted a link on LinkedIn. The article  provided insight about current job market trends including the increase in the number of independent contractors, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“In the latest numbers available, from February 2005, 7.4 percent of workers — or 10.3 million — were classified as independent contractors — more than a full percentage point higher than in 2001,” wrote CNN.com producer Steve Almasy.

And businesses are using freelancers frequently for more “project-based” assignments and these independent contractors save companies expenses such as workspace and taxes and offer “options for laid-off full-time workers, says expert,” Almasy wrote.

“As business models change, you get a lot of organizational upset and that adds to the economic uncertainty,” Joe Pastore, professor emeritus of management science at Pace University, told CNN. A business “really can’t see out much more than a year perhaps. And you’re operating from business cycle to business cycle.”

A freelancer featured in the article offered tips including making sure newbies set aside of their income for taxes and  consult an attorney and an accountant accustomed to working with small businesses.

For more information, also visit the Web site for the National Association for the Self-Employed.

Here is how I took my digital camera back a few centuries…

As I said in my previous post, I am using the body cap which came with the camera for the pin hole. This is because its designed for the camera and wont let any light in and minimal dust as well.  

I first created a large hole in the cap with a sharp pointy knife. I didnt have to worry about the size of this hole as I am using a bit of foil beneath for a more accurate hole.

watch those fingers kids!

Next step is to make the insert for the Cap.  This was made from a drinks which is a nice thin metal and also quite sturdy.  This was cut about a centimetre smaller than the cap.

Make sure you drink the beer before cutting into the can

Next we need to sand down the metal to thin it. It also removes any plastic on the surface which messes up the opening when you stick a pin in. It also makes it easier to drive the pin through. For thsi a fine sandpaper was used.

Bend the sandpaper over your finger to get an edge.

Next the hole was made. For this I used a sewing needle. You need to place the metal over your finger then slowly push the pin through whilst turning it until you can feel it just slightly prick your finger. You dont want to make a hugh hole, so do this slowly.

hold up to the light and check how big your hole is

 Now tape the bugger into the camera. You’re best using electrical tape, which is lightproof. But i didnt have any so used masking tape – which isnt. But heck it still works…

Careful you dont cover up the hole

Check against the light again if you like

So there we have it, screw it onto the camera and your done. For that bit anyway. Working out the exposures is a littel trickier.

As the hole is so small, (about f200) you cant measure it with a ruler. So what you do is trial and error.  Take a meter readin using ev (exposure value) on your light meter. Which in this case was 7. Then make exposures at different times until you get the correct exposure. In my trials, the first was 2 minutes on ISO400, which was a stop under exposed. So i doubled the exposure to 2 minutes.  Ideally I would like to use a lower ISO to reduce grain, although an ISO 100 would be 16 minutes and thats in good light.

Two big issues facing the world currently are the climate and the economy.   With oil prices reaching record breaking levels, even if people are unaware this is the result of over consumption, efficiency is becoming more of an issue. Controversy has arisen over government actions  (or lack of) against global warming,  yet it is evident times are changing, as are our views.  This said, people are lazy and waste considerable amounts of energy. Largely because we can. 

This said, I am not necessarily going to focus this project on the environment. It was one of my early thoughts to concentrate on wasted light. Above is a landscape of london – taken on medium format daylight balanced film the picture is natural (in the sense it has not been doctored by any automatic white balancing) The colours are produced when the artificial light, emitted and wasted, are captured by the light sensitive film. What has become someone else’s waste has become an attraction to another.

I was originally planning to use film for this project, as I did not want any artificial control over the naturally artificial colours. However, I find it may be interesting to experiment and try something new – Exerimenting with digital. How I shall do this, I do not know. Although I may start with pinhole.

The King has been singing The Twelve Days of Christmas all day, so I suggested he write a Twelve Lego Days of Christmas song.  He really got in to it.  It is posted on his blog.  He worked with the number of syllables in the song and in his alterations to make sure they worked, even though they were different.  After typing it onto his blog, he happily spent the next hour making a chart and figuring out exactly how many pieces he would get if he really did get all of the Legos for the 12 days of Christmas and how much it would cost!  Wow!  More than some school teachers make in year!  But let’s not call it math or language arts because it was fun.

The King, happily consumed

I read Lillian Katz work’s years ago and thought the idea of project based, child initiated and controlled work was wonderful (in addition to looking up her work, look up books on Reggio education).  We all learn better when we are excited about what we’re learning, when we’re exploring freely and don’t feel compelled to complete a project to another person’s specifications.  As a friend who knits and I have discussed, our own craft/art projects are about process and because they are about the process, the process that we have decided to challenge ourselves with, we find great enjoyment and satisfaction in them.  I can’t tell you how many times over our years of home schooling that I have slowly, gently tried to encourage The King to dig deeper into a subject.  Me: “Do you want to look up the answer to your question on the computer?”  The King: “Uh, no.”  Me: You’ve been talking a lot about X, do you want to get a book on it at the library?”  The King: “Nah.”  Me: “I found some great Lego sites on the computer, do you want to look?”  The King (for whom life would end without Legos): “No thanks.” He does have a depth of knowledge about a number of different things, but he hasn’t worked on sustained projects very much.

I’ve been reading the Camp Creek Blog recently and she had a post about what constitutes a project- anything.  In this same post, she gave cartooning as an example, so when The King announced that he wanted to be a cartoonist, we listened and talked, but not too much at first for fear of squashing his interest.  Later, after talking a little more, we came to the idea that he would have a blog to share his Lego puns and jokes with others while also drawing cartoons.  He is so consumed by this, it is wonderful.  He has always had art materials available and in reach, but hasn’t done a lot with them.  Now he is.  I am just happy that my aunt gave us a super big stack of computer paper she couldn’t use because we’re burning through the paper now!

Santa Claus

Am auzit ca, mai nou sau mai vechi se poarta folosirea CV-urilor expertilor pentru castigarea proiectelor/licitatiilor pe nerambursabile si dupa aia ori nu i se mai spune nimic “expertului cu CV-ul” ori i se explica tacticos ca nu a fost castigata licitatia sau dupa caz, proiectul.

Nu ma gandisem la asta pana acum, insa de curand, mi s-a confirmat ca o firma care reusise sa ma pacaleasca, pozand in echipa perfecta, profesionalizata maxim si fara urma de cusur, aplica tertipul cu CV-ul pentru reusitele proprii, motivand de fiecare data o viitoare colaborare “project based”. Hahaha, ce aberatie de doi bani!! Daca iti va cere cineva o colaborare project based, sa-ti pui macar o intrebare, daca iti cere si CV-ul pentru a aplica pe o licitatie etc, sa-ti mai pui o intrebare, daca nu te suna in termenul stabilit, sa fii sigur ca sunt tepari.

Intre doua firme, una imbracata in frac si rochie de seara si alta imbracata in jeanshi rupti si nespalati, o prefer pe ultima. Alegerea este clara si fara echivoc. Cea de-a doua nu incearca sa pozeze in ceva ce nu este, stiu la ce sa ma astept si nu-mi fac griji ca-mi da la gioale pe sub centura.

La un moment dat o sa-ti povestesc despre astia cu fracul si cu rochia de seara si cu colaborarea project based .